Highlanders fans can assist raise club funds easily

After the hype, funfare and aplomb of the BancABC-cum-ESport-cum-Adidas Highlanders/Dynamos replica jersey deal, the reality of delivery over speeches is hitting the Bosso fans who await the first sight of the promised good. It is claimed Dynamos started selling their wares last week. The clubs went into a deal that would see the fans fork out $50.00 for the benefit of $3.50 for their clubs.

Many hoped to snap the jerseys upon delivery but the spirits have been dampened by the unspecified delays. Questions have been raised as to how the Hararians got their stock but as usual; there will be no speculation from our quarters. 

It interested many people how we suggested fans can don the shirts for less. The idea was to raffle a jersey for a $1.00 with 100 tickets. That way, the club would net $53.50 per item going to the club. The little knowledge gained from the experience of being Technical Advisor of the biggest club in Zimbabwe showed me how difficult it may be to do business with the club. The Highlanders FC Executive Committee members are busy people having to run their lives, families, jobs and the club.

The least that can happen is that they accept donations of cash collected or given by well-wishers. Even that is a process. The issue is that nobody is in a position to take unilateral decisions. The complication extends further if there are sponsors involved. The approval of the board is not a mean feat either.

Given that, at this point, all should be aware the club is said to be entering 'good times' with things on the horizon. Many people are working tirelessly behind the scenes. It is the scenes that we want to dwell on. Efforts to form a Highlanders Football Club Supporters Association were fruitful and theirs was driven by the Facebook Group of the same name.

For the benefit of the club and the followers, it this Group that must just try to take the bull by the horns, make money and donate to the club, say FORCE it into the club. The group can get the replicas and raffle them as part of their own mandate outside club structures. A turn-off for many has been how there has always been an issue with making money for Bosso.

Discussions that there was people who sold the club colours and merchandise without anything being donated or offered to the club - like these selling flags, T-shirts, badges, hats on the streets and stadia. The self-propelled entrepreneurs are visionary and energetic but they operate outside the mandate of the club for their enrichment. The club seems content with that. There is a claim of a Bosso car wash which may or may not be linked with the club.

If a constituted body like the supporters association took it upon themselves to regularise and officalise the operation, they would hit a brick wall. Acting on their own, they will be brandished dissidents working without the blessing of the club, yet they work to benefit the club. That is however the only way out.

Bongani Mafu. a prominent and highly qualified coach who I worked with in educating coaches years back was full of wonder. "I keep failing to understand something here. I thought if a group wanted to raise money and buy say footballs for the club, they just go ahead and raise the funds, buy the targeted equipment then approach the executive with a concrete object. Why would there be need for a 'blessing' to raise funds?"

This point surely came at a point when a group of individuals had to ask for the 'blessings of the club' to assist the Clubhouse, and the project stalled as a result. Many may not wish to recall a car that was donated to the club for use by the coach and the donation was unwelcome somehow.  

He goes on to say "People have donated money and equipment to Bosso before. I am positive none started by getting permission to do so. People must get organised, donate the monies somehow as a group and buy the equipment!".  His suggestion even went further to a point of approaching the company selling what is to be bought so donations would go straight to the club rather than coming from individuals.

People wanting to suggest or give advice to the Executive waste a lot of time. That committee has a constituted mandate to fulfill and their tasks are measured in terms of time rather than delivery. They enter history books whatever the outcome of their tenure, unfortunately.

Robert Ndlovu was however of the opinion that the club is not a ‘charity case’ and therefore should not depend on donations. While true, this fact has been sysnonymous with the club as hand and glove. “The club has capacity to self-sustain if they use their brand properly. Don’t give a man fish. Teach him how to fish. When people live on donations they become lazy. Just a fact”.

There would be support for this. “It is the management that should come with a massive turn-around strategy to ease the financial woes of the club even if it means selling the club assets.” In fact, I share the opinions but just. If possible, someone could have done this decades ago.

The truth is, with or without fishing tools and skill, Bosso cannot or will not not fish. That one hard fact that is incomprehensible. It is the same with many executives since Ndumiso Gumede's days when the club managed to buy the properties it has to date – the office, the clubhouse and the house in Luveve. Bosso cannot come up with a plan. That sounds harsh too. Given a plan, they cannot implement it at all somehow. You may ask what they can do then. I can confirm that they can spend the money, which is the reason why they will do with donations.

The clubhouse utilisation is said to have a long term solution with solid plans in the pipeline, to the club and we await further details. With or without the board and club executive committee blessings, it would be prudent for the owners of the club, the fans, to use the club's name to raise funds for the club. There is no fraud there. Fraud would be running the club dry, especially a brand like Bosso.

One hopes the jerseys will arrive, the supporters will do what they want and pump the money into the club coffers. BancABC should also pull up their socks and supply alternative kits for the team to avoid embarrassing situations like the one that saw the team 'borrow' a kit. It could be just incompetence on the part of the management in which case, it is not acceptable.

Bosso can afford to dress fans the replica jersey for a $1

Putting this to bed, the deal of replica jerseys by Adidas for Highlanders and Dynamos will spurn three years and thousands of fans are expected to get the regalia of their favourite team in this period of time. Comparison with the acquisition of the shirts between Bosso and Dynamos will always be pop-up as these teams always compete on all fronts. 

While there is not much details of how much the whole deal is worth for Highlanders Football Club, there is a question of whether it is a deal between BancABC and Adidas or between Adidas and clubs. Whatever the case, many believe that the issue is immaterial. It is thought that courting Adidas into this deal is a coup on its own. For us who do not believe in a half a loaf, we may sound sceptical but in all truth, it is worthwhile.

So far, the role of a mediator company's role is extremely being down-played. The present picture painted has it that Adidas provides, through sponsors BancABC, the playing kit, the training kit, the warm-up tracksuits, sneakers as well as balls - which could be both match and training balls.

The initial 2500 shirts are said to be available for each team to sell and pocket $8750.00. Many viewed the figure of $3.50 per shirt as little. After all, comparing to genuine Bafana Bafana, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates shirts, the $50.00 is not a bad deal. It may be worth finding out how much Pirates gets from Adidas, but then, Bosso and Pirates are oceans apart. However, a Pirates fan has a more conducive economic environment to juggle his income and expenditure figures.

As always in this forum, we are never short of ideas for the struggling Zimbabwean fan. More precisely, we always have solution for the Bosso family. While it is appreciated these do not get to the office, it is worth trying to send a note there. One day these things may be taken seriously and the club may sing a different tune.

The first thing, the Zimbabwean mentality is way different compared to the world. This is due to the education system. Zimbabweans think at extremes in terms of what is good money and what it takes to earn the money. Making a $1 in a while can only be done by begging. The sums of many $1 is never beyond the $1. Figures never lie.

For starters, Bosso can devise a system that is less labour intensive but less exciting in making their fans wear these replica jersey for a $1 or two. The match tickets are about $3 each. Many people struggle if they have to watch the match for $5, especially if they will get the same stuff whether they pay $3 or $5. What the club may do, is to sell the raffle tickets parallel to the match fee, say $1. That could mean one or every home match, 2500 fans would win themselves replica jerseys at a cost of $1. I wouldn't mind.

Few jerseys could be raffled each match day to maintain the excitement. The problem here could be the number of tickets not making much cash compared to the cost of jerseys, but it depends on mechanisms built around the process. 

A better but labour intensive way would be to let 2 or 3 people take the jersey to every portion of the stadium sitting a 100 fans, sell 100 tickets for say $1 at half-time, make an instant draw and give away the jersey. That would be $100 for a jersey on the spot. The winner dons a genuine $50 Bosso jersey for a $1. Others may even cry for an 'enchoe!' 

This process means there would have to be many Bosso people around the stadium doing this in a short space of time - 15 minute half-time. This can be a tradition that the team may cultivate and give away many other products. Either way, fans will don jerseys for less and losing $1 in trying to get a $50 replica jersey is not much of a loss. Many would actually donate much more, some even their lunch for the love and worthy cause of iBosso.

Highlanders replica jersey arrived and check out the price!!

The undisclosed amount of Highlanders Bosso replica jerseys for the funs were unveiled and hande over to the club for distribution at a price of $50.00 in a function that was held in Harare.

In a deal between Adidas and both Dynamos and Highlanders, the clubs stand to benefit a cool $3.50 (7%) from the sale of each unit. It has been said that arrangements for shipment will be made for those purchasing from far away places.  many

The guess is that payment online will be made available for the convinience of the people in the diaspora. One could not establish what else in terms of menchandise was available from Adidas and BancABC. Hats, scarfs, gloves and flags may still be left to the clubs to produce and market.

This deal is said to have been brokered by BancABC, while earlier on, the understanding was that it was a through pass to Edazi Kasinauyo's company to source the kit and the deal for the two clubs through BancABC. It is reported that an approved retailer will receive the merchandise from Adidas in South Africa and sell the jerseys to the public.

These will be sold in home matches and approved shops still to be specified. This brought excitement to fans and pundits alike. The issue of Bosso associating with Adidas overshadowed the issue of the club's share. There is not much doubt how many jerseys will be sold. All the years we have cried for the Bosso family to open up the minds and think business.

At 7% share per shirt, many people could have made better offers, not for the jerseys, because I truly think Adidas are the best and they gave a good deal. A lot of business people are availavble to manufacture and distribute so much for their gross share of 93%.

This includes the books I wrote and proposed a 50% share of the net. It just shows how much onew thinks by heart without a business mind. Mind-blogging was the club's insistance on 100%. At this point, no books have been sold, meaning that the club received 100% of nothing. If a 1000 were sold, the team would pocket around R50000.00. This is not to take away the shine of this deal, but opens the eyes of what the club should be loking at about everything else.

What has not been clear is how long the deal is for and if it invoves any training kits as well as apparel for the junior teams. I am neither sure how much else the team gets for donning Adidas kit and the length of that part of the deal. Like all new toys, we hug and embrace the fresh start and hope it undures the hard times. It is however worrying that the club still claims financial hardships while being kitted by such a strong brand.

Besides the financial obligations, Adidas could as well furnish the coaches' offices if they have, and equip them with the high-tech gadgets. The assumption is that they supply cones, maniquines, bibs and balls, not just shorts, shorts and socks for the team.

It would also be nice if they endorsed local players and supplied them with footall boots even if it was for $10000 per annum. The football boots can be named after these players in the local market and many people would have the pride to wear the brand their heroes use. All this could be a done deal but many people that were asked could not provide the answers, regardless of their lose ties to the top.